Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Today's Language Mistake

I am sure that I make all kinds of grammatical errors all the time in Swahili. There are things to remember that I always forget, like if the possessive agrees with the noun or did I get the right object infix stuck in that verb. But today was one of those classic mistakes that I will now always remember. My tutor today was still smirking to herself several sentences beyond my mistake in the practice.

Here’s what I was practicing, “Do you have a new map of the world?” The idea was to change the subject of you to me, us, him or her, them, you plural, etc. Anyway, the word for world is dumia. One time I accidentally said dania. Easy mistake, right, especially when I am trying to get my mouth around new words like ramani (map). The funny thing is that I know what dania is. It’s a common word from when I lived in Kenya before. It’s cilantro. I was asking for a map of cilantro!

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About Me

An evangelical, believing Christian who cares deeply about God's children, therefore is working to help equip the future generations of Kenyans to address their own issues in a holistic way. By serving at a major Kenyan university I will be able to promote the kind of community development that makes sense in the changing climate of East Africa. I will to promote leadership that will make a very real difference as servant leaders and Bible believing Christians in a world that seems often to be struggling for survival in these hard global economic times and the wave of African corruption. This is strategic for reaching out to so many Kenyans in so many ways. This blog is about that life.